It's Official!

Yesterday I turned 30.  My 20s are a thing of a past and that's okay.  I had a pretty fun birthday weekend.  I got to do some gardening on Saturday.  I planted some basil, broccoli, snow peas, onions, carrots, leaf lettuce, and kohlrabi.  I can't wait for my garden this year.  The drought here in WI is officially over, so hopefully my garden will be full of fruits and veggies this year and not wither and die like last year.  Okay, my tomatoes and peppers did fine last year, but the rest of my plants were a sad sight.  This year I'm hoping to be able to donate some of the veggies to a food pantry.  I'm (hopefully) going to donate to Plant a Row.  It's a program that encourages gardeners to plant an extra row in there garden to donate to the hungry and less fortunate.  A lot of communities have a program like this, so if you have a garden, you should check it out and donate some of your extra produce.

But back to this past birthday weekend.  We also took a day trip to Chicago to go to the Brookfield Zoo.  I haven't been there in a long time and J's never been there.  It was a little overcast, but the weather cooperated and we didn't get rain.  I had a lot of fun, even if the feathers and scales house was closed (as well as Australia house).    

We got up close and personal with this little guy.  The peacock was putting on a show for everyone, but no one even noticed this little guinea fowl.  I was standing a few inches from him (or her, I'm not sure) snapping pictures.

Normally J doesn't like apes, I know, weird right, but he did enjoy the Tropical House.  If you ever stop by the Brookfield Zoo, make sure not to miss the Tropical House.  It's one of my favorites.  It was nap time when we went through, so the gorillas were all napping.  You can see this one was a little on the cranky side because people were disturbing her sleep.

It's always nap time during midday, so a lot of the animals were sleeping when we saw them, but what's cutter then a sleeping bear that is cuddle up on some straw?  Not much.

Okay, maybe a sleepy snow leopard might be cuter.  She was curled up right by the window enjoying a little siesta.

The giraffes were not sleeping, they were all out enjoying the nice warm weather.  This one was right at the gate.  I love me some giraffes.  

They even had a little baby.  Oh my god was she cute.  Just hanging out with all of the other giraffes.

The zoo trip did make me realize that I needed a zoom lens, so I went home and may have bought myself a birthday present (It was a used lens, so it wasn't too bad in price).  So look for some new zoom shots in the future.  I can't wait to use it.  I also may have bought myself an extension ring for macro shots.  I'm still waiting to buy my Nifty Fifty.  That is my goal lens for my first show.  If I make at least $150, I will buy myself a Nifty Fifty.  So everyone come out and buy some gifts for mother's day (shameless self promotion).

I enjoyed so much delicious food this past weekend.  We picked up a half baked stuffed pizza on our way home and then went out for sushi.  Yum, sushi.  We had some amazing rolls and we splurged a little bit because it was my birthday (and our anniversary.  We've been together for 9 years now).

The pizza was for Monday, which we both took off to rest a little and get some things done around the house.  We're having a party this coming weekend, so we had a few things that needed to finish up.  J's birthday and end of the semester is only couple of weeks away, so we decided to celebrate with our friends.      

I hope everyone else had just as great weekend as I did.  I'll be posting our April accomplishments tomorrow and then our May goals soon.  And like I said, get ready to see a lot more pictures.  My photography and photoshop classes are going great, so I'm eager to show off my skills (none of the photos above have been edited, I just didn't have time).